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VTV Purifi Amplifier Teardown(SIL 994EnH-Ticha Pro Opamp)
- Thread starter amirm
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OP
- Thread Starter
- #42
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- Feb 6, 2021
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If you have been a good boy for Santa, that review may be coming as well.
I am sometimes naughty but always nice....
Also both +7db and +14db buffer gain?
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It is interesting to compare this with the Nord amplifier reviewed a while ago. The Nord is significantly more expensive, but otherwise near identical. It got a soccer panther. ASR standards keep rising, it wouldn't now.
The internal construction of both the VTV and Nord leave a lot to be desired.
As I noted in the review thread, Purifi and Hypex leave very little for the OEM to do to diferentiate their product, or make one want to buy from them at all versus just buying the parts and DIYing it. Many people won't be comfortable with the DIY, so there is a market. However, in order for any of these OEMers to justify their existence and the product they really need to provide exemplary construction quality. So far these amps are on the beginner DIY level of quality, which really makes one question the value.
There are unforgivable lapses in safety, general lazyiness, and inattention to detail that would put me off any offering. Any ideas that these qualify as a high end product are laughable.
The trigger wiring in the VTV is unacceptable. There is mains on wires that are not in any manner rated for mains use. The construction here is actually worse than the darned The Truth pre-amplfier, and that was our poster-boy for appalling construction.
There is a total disregard for managing loop area with signals, and lots of opportunity for degradation of the result. Both Nord and VTV have crafted their own buffer PCBs, which is great, but given the poor design and attention to detail of the rest of the amp, one can't help but wonder how much care has been taken with layout. Noise pickup is clearly an issue, and one suspects the PCB layout is part of the problem.
Dual power supplies is a waste of time, money and cabinet space. In any domestic setting even a single PS will be coasting. Evn an argument about longer lifetime would be better served by leaving the second PS in its box and keeping it as a spare.
If I pay for an OEM'd Purifi amplifier I exect to be able to take the lid off and be greeted with eye candy levels of perfection. Everything should be to safety spec, and the attention to detail on signal routing and general cable routing should be immaculate. Otherwise I'm paying for nothing. These guys need to seriously rethink what they are doing and what it is they are making.
The internal construction of both the VTV and Nord leave a lot to be desired.
As I noted in the review thread, Purifi and Hypex leave very little for the OEM to do to diferentiate their product, or make one want to buy from them at all versus just buying the parts and DIYing it. Many people won't be comfortable with the DIY, so there is a market. However, in order for any of these OEMers to justify their existence and the product they really need to provide exemplary construction quality. So far these amps are on the beginner DIY level of quality, which really makes one question the value.
There are unforgivable lapses in safety, general lazyiness, and inattention to detail that would put me off any offering. Any ideas that these qualify as a high end product are laughable.
The trigger wiring in the VTV is unacceptable. There is mains on wires that are not in any manner rated for mains use. The construction here is actually worse than the darned The Truth pre-amplfier, and that was our poster-boy for appalling construction.
There is a total disregard for managing loop area with signals, and lots of opportunity for degradation of the result. Both Nord and VTV have crafted their own buffer PCBs, which is great, but given the poor design and attention to detail of the rest of the amp, one can't help but wonder how much care has been taken with layout. Noise pickup is clearly an issue, and one suspects the PCB layout is part of the problem.
Dual power supplies is a waste of time, money and cabinet space. In any domestic setting even a single PS will be coasting. Evn an argument about longer lifetime would be better served by leaving the second PS in its box and keeping it as a spare.
If I pay for an OEM'd Purifi amplifier I exect to be able to take the lid off and be greeted with eye candy levels of perfection. Everything should be to safety spec, and the attention to detail on signal routing and general cable routing should be immaculate. Otherwise I'm paying for nothing. These guys need to seriously rethink what they are doing and what it is they are making.
Proper way is to use a connector or a ferrule and solder that to the PCB. They should at least use some glue or silicone etc. to secure the wires to the PCB. And AC wires should have thicker insulation.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #46
The problem with the super thin wires is that in assembly it can easily get caught and present a shock hazard. There is no excuse for mains wiring that thin going to the back panel relay board.
jimijoeb
Member
I Agree on that, I would never use solder joint for mains personaly.
I see logo on board, so it is their design. They should use better connection. Whole design of trigger PCB looks to me bit flimsy. From estetics wire to PCB solder joint never looks good.
PS: My apologize as I'm new to the forum and didn't introduce myself. I come for search of some info for my new setup and just can't help and joined conversation.
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There's so much room in that case, things could have been arranged with much shorter internal wiring.
e.g. rotate the top psu 180 degrees, rotate both amps 90 degrees, the amp-psu cables would then be quite short.
Put one channel at the top, one at the bottom, mains comes in the centre, then the speaker/signal cables are short.
This is just off the top of my head at first glance - I'm sure the pro's here could do even better.
e.g. rotate the top psu 180 degrees, rotate both amps 90 degrees, the amp-psu cables would then be quite short.
Put one channel at the top, one at the bottom, mains comes in the centre, then the speaker/signal cables are short.
This is just off the top of my head at first glance - I'm sure the pro's here could do even better.
jimijoeb
Member
Rotating PSU will open up all noises from it to the AMP. Heatsink in this case works as shielding.
That's not how EMI work.
jimijoeb
Member
I thought having barier should help eliminate some noise, full steel cage would be probably better, but this is in my opinion better than nothing.
Buying the EVAL-1 version may be a good deal if you live in the US, and the savings may be worth the hassle of fixing up the wiring yourself.
If you live anywhere else in the world you now have to pay much more shipping and also potentially more import tax that will almost certainly exceed $211 USD in most countries. It also costs money to post back if there is a problem, or time wasted identifying and fixing a wiring problem if you had to do it yourself. I would much rather have a bit of fun doing it myself knowing its done properly and knowing I could deal with Purifi/Hypex directly if I had any issues with the components, and being outside of the US, it probably would not be much of a difference.
This is a glorified 3-piece lego project that a monkey could assemble, and trying to cut corners with a tuppence worth of wire/solder and just basic lack of attention to detail is bordering insulting for something that's being offered as a complete product. People are buying these because it's Purifi and its cheap, not because its VTV. The price is the only virtue and they are obviously selling enough of these that it's in their interest not to give each one more attention.
Maybe the real question was where is the mains fuse for the case?The Hypex SMPS 1200 12A fuses (1 per PSU), are heatshrunk M205s, pigtailed and soldered to the PCB. Hypex regard the fuses as "non replaceable".
View attachment 140388
Looks as though if a short occurs, you blow out the AC input noise filter...
KSTR
Major Contributor
This is just sad and a shame.
It's not only that execution is awfully sloppy and even potentially dangerous, it's also that the whole system planning, notably concept of grounding, went wrong, that is, there obviously wasn't any!
An EMI and signal integrity disaster, also reflected in the poor measurements.
It's not only that execution is awfully sloppy and even potentially dangerous, it's also that the whole system planning, notably concept of grounding, went wrong, that is, there obviously wasn't any!
An EMI and signal integrity disaster, also reflected in the poor measurements.
Radiations are mainly done by the cables, and by a few components that happen to be on the other side from the heat sink.
I tested both positions of the SMPS1200 for my amplifiers. Measurements were exactly the same but one of the 2 positions was allowing both better cable management and better air flow.
But they're both different and the amps are both the same.
FWIW, I have tried the OPA1612 in the VTV buffer and also the venerable OPA627 and Burson V6 Vivid. My results were purely subjective but I did prefer the Sparkos SS3602's for perceived sound quality.
I have my VTV buffer set for +14 dB because (for a while) I was using a passive volume control.
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I used to think that but I found out that the aluminum used in heatsinks is weak for magnetic shielding, almost like air.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permeability_(electromagnetism)#Values_for_some_common_materials
Steel is a cheap solution, just like Apollon did with the Purifi Mini.
https://www.apollonaudio.com/apollon-1et400a-mini-stereo-amplifier/
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